Jim Knight

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Jim Knight MP
Jim Knight
Member of Parliament
for South Dorset
Incumbent
Assumed office 
7 June 2001
Preceded by Ian Bruce
Born 6 March 1965 (1965-03-06) (age 43)
Sidcup
Nationality British
Political party Labour

James Knight known as Jim Knight (born 6 March 1965, Sidcup) is a British politician for the Labour Party who has been a Member of Parliament since 2001. As of June 2007, Knight holds the post of Minister of State for Schools and Learners in the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

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[edit] Early life

He went to the independent Eltham College in Mottingham, London. He studied Geography, Social & Political Sciences at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge from 1984-7, gaining a BA Hons. He was Manager of Central Studio in Basingstoke from 1988-90. From 1990-1, he was Director of West Wiltshire Arts Centre Ltd, then Director of Dentons Directories Ltd in Westbury from 1991-2001.

[edit] Election history

He first stood for Parliament in the 1997 general election as the Labour candidate for Dorset South, but lost. He was however elected on the same day to Mendip District Council, on which he served until 2001, including as Labour Group leader.

At the 2001 general election, he was elected the member of Parliament for Dorset South in, the only Labour gain from the Conservatives in that year. A high-profile anti-Conservative tactical voting campaign was conducted in Dorset, led by Billy Bragg, and Knight may have gained many votes from Liberal Democrats. It is rumoured, though not proven, that the Liberal Democrats agreed not to campaign there, on the condition that Labour did the same in other constituencies. However it has also been suggested that the campaign by the Liberal Democrats in 1997, suggesting that they were the only party capable of beating the Conservatives in Dorset South, led directly to Knight's defeat by 77 votes. Dorset South was the second most marginal seat in the 2001 elections, being only won by 153 votes. (Only Cheadle was more marginal.)

While he was generally expected to have a difficult election in the 2005 election, he won with a margin of 1,812 votes in an election in which Labour gained no seats and suffered a noticeable decline in the popular vote. This can perhaps in part be attributed to the Conservative candidate, Ed Matts, who achieved national fame after doctoring a photo in his campaign literature from a protest against the deportation of a family of asylum seekers into an anti-immigration photo. Knight also benefited from several high-profile ministerial visits during the election campaign.

[edit] Parliamentary career

He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Rural Affairs, Landscape and Biodiversity in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2005-6. He then moved to become Minister of State for Schools in the Department for Education and Skills. On 28 June 2007, when Gordon Brown disbanded the department, Knight moved to the newly created Department for Children, Schools and Families, as the minister for Schools and Learners.

In his first Parliament, Jim Knight generally voted in line with party policy, including all major votes such as those on the Iraq war and top-up fees.


[edit] Personal life

He married Anna Wheatley, who he met whilst at Fitzwilliam, in April 1989 in Basingstoke. They have a son (born October 1990) and daughter (born September 1988).

[edit] External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Ian Bruce		 Member of Parliament for South Dorset
2001 – present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Jacqui Smith		 Minister of State for Schools and Learners
2006 – present		 Incumbent
Languages